Again, African Greys are the best parents. While babies are in the nest I feed a bean, corn, and rice mash, along with as much corn-on-the-cob as they will eat. It usually amounts to two to three ears per day. Greys feed their babies well. I have unknowingly left five babies in a clutc
h, in the nest
for four weeks, and
found only a 20 gram
difference
form oldest to
youngest.
This has
happened twice with
two different pairs.
I normally
pull at no younger
than three weeks.
Had I known
there were five
babies, I think I
would have been a
basket case and
pulled early.
There really
are occasions when
“ignorance is
bliss”. I
do not believe
African Greys
abandon eggs or
mutilate chicks
unless something is
very wrong.
eders. Some African Greys that were hand-fed, but raised to be breeders, do not do as well as their wild counterparts.
Parent-reared birds at this juncture seem to be faring well. I have a few flights consisting of about 18 hand-feds being raised to be breeders. I have groups of four to six birds per flight, flocked together. My three year olds are starting to show solicitation to other members in the flock. Flocking in groups seems to be a better start in producing domestic breeders. African Greys that were hand-fed and grew up as pairs together haven’t done as well as I would have hoped. The males seem to really not know what they are supposed to do. Maybe in the wild they go through the same uncertainties. It would be nice if that were the case. Although, when getting dark eyed, or young adult Greys out of quarantine, this has not been the case. Those birds, for me, have grown up and have gone on to produce as well as mature, imported birds. In discussing the problems of captive bred birds for breeding, it needs to be noted which “type”
we are talking
about. Hand-fed
ex-pets or hand-fed
and raised for
breeding, or
parent-reared.
